Ikaruga

Despite being created long after the golden age of the top-down, two-dimensional, vertically scrolling shooter, Ikaruga is a poster child for the genre. Tight controls, a fittingly tense soundtrack, pretty 3D graphics, and truly creative level designs all combine to create an exceptionally well-designed and well-executed shooter. It offers way more than just hordes of generic enemies and endless waves of gunfire — though there’s plenty of that, too.

First you’ll just play to survive. Then you’ll play to chain kills together and boost your score.

But the thing that really makes Ikaruga stand out is an ingenious little game mechanic called polarity switching. Enemy ships—as well as the bullets they fire—come in one of two flavors: light or dark. Your ship, on the other hand, can instantly switch between the two colors and will absorb bullets of the same color while dealing double damage to enemies of the opposite color. So, unlike every other shooter, you don’t have to avoid every pixel flying your way. In fact, absorbing bullets will energize your ship’s special weapon — a set of homing missiles that serve as the game’s only power-up.

You can now save replays of your runs. Got a high score? Let's see it.

This scheme adds an exhilarating layer of strategy to a genre that pretty much spawned the phrase “spray and pray” and makes Ikaruga a true test of skill. And trust us, this game is unbelievably tough. But it does try to be accessible to less-competitive gamers: you can play levels one at a time to practice, you can turn on continues (though doing so means your high score won’t count), and you earn an additional continue for each hour you play. Plus, mastering polarity switching will let you beat sections that at first seemed impossible, which feels incredibly rewarding. The fact that it’s a mere five levels long and can be frustratingly difficult might limit the game’s appeal, but it’s hard not to appreciate Ikaruga’s meticulously crafted brilliance.